THE 5 VOWS
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Kṛṣṇa talks about austerity in action, śarīraṃ tapa as well. He speaks about the five conditions that are also in Patañjali’s Aṣṭāṅga Yoga as the five disciplines of yama: satya, ahiṃsā, asteya, aparigraha and brahmacarya. These mean truth in thoughts, words and deeds embodying nonviolence, non-covetousness, simplicity and living in reality with the focus on the Supreme as the ultimate in any kind of penance. Many feel that the truth must be told even if it hurts. Please understand that if it hurts someone, it cannot be the truth. It is only our perception of the truth. It is only a reflection of our ego presented by our minds as the truth. We are not in the truth if we perceive something with our senses and we draw conclusions with our limited knowledge based upon those perceptions, and then express these as our truth and hurt someone. If we do this, be very clear, we are in aggression and ignorance. We are not in the truth. We are not in goodness.